The Room of Hidden Things
by our dancing days
Summary: In the Afterlife, Draco returns to the Room of Hidden Things, where he belongs, and waits for someone to find him.


**Title: **The Room of Hidden Things

**Character: **Draco Malfoy

**Notes: **So, this is an idea that has been playing in my mind for a while now, and I've finally gotten it typed up! Oh, sweet bliss from allowing a bit more extra room in my already-crowded head. It has three main time frames: sixth year, a few days before Draco's death, and his funeral. I sincerely hope you enjoy!

* * *

Draco wonders how long he has spent in here today. An hour? Two? Half a day, or more? What does it matter, anyway? There is no one to come looking for him. There is no one to care. He could stay in this room, the only place where he belongs.

The Room of Hidden Things.

It's no longer just hidden things, though. Lost things, and forgotten things, and not-so-important things have all been tucked away in this place, away from prying fingers and eyes.

The Room of Lost and Forgotten Things is where Draco Malfoy belongs.

He is not just hiding from _Potter _any more. He is hiding from Pansy - ugly, twisted Pansy who so wants to control him, control everyone - and he is hiding from Blaise - charming, broken Blaise who has recently announced his mother's seventh marriage - and he is hiding from Greg - brutish, ugly Greg who thinks he is something special now - and he is hiding from Vince - calmer, stupider Vince who doesn't know how far deep he's in.

He is hiding from Draco Malfoy, the boy who is making all the wrong choices.

In here, Draco has a Vanishing Cabinet - both literal and metaphorical - where he can practise fixing it day and night, ready to disappear at a moment's notice, forever with the fear of coming back broken.

A Malfoy with bad faith; how about that?

Maybe, though, he is hiding from Mother, and Father, and Aunt Bella, and the _Dark Lord, _who can find him anywhere, anyway. But he can try; oh, how Draco tries.

That is the third-to-last time he enters the Room of Hidden Things, the penultimate visit being to unlock the Vanishing Cabinet.

The last place Draco visits before he dies is the Room of Hidden Things. Hogwarts is not his home, as it was to some; it was his school, nothing more than a pot of bad memories. But the Room of Hidden Things has done what it was designed to do; hide.

He paces - one, two, three- and the room appears. For the final time, he hides from the world.

Draco hides from Astoria - the beautiful, twisted wife who never truly loved him - and he hides from Scorpius - the beautiful, broken son so like him, especially in his mistakes - and he hides from Mother - the woman who died the night her sister left - and he hides from Father - the man who has made him who he is.

Then Draco comes out of hiding.

He lasts two days.

At the funeral of ex-Death Eater, Draco Malfoy, there is a small collection of people. His mother, still retaining her regal beauty for much longer than her age should allow; his wife, who has not aged so well, and his son, who carries his own newborn son like a treasured object. Scorpius' wife does not come. Weasleys, married or not, should not be allowed near a Malfoy grave.

It is a short service, because the vicar looks uncomfortable, and Narcissa is weeping too much to allow any proper speeches.

Scorpius and Astoria's faces are emotionless, as they were taught.

Draco's favourite game to play with his son was hide-and-seek. They took turns, but it never surprised Scorpius, even at that young age, that his father preferred to seek, so he would not be found.

That is thing Scorpius can think of now, at his father's tomb.

The gravestone is plain - a simple _rest in peace _is inscribed at the top, though in his will, Draco requested that it would be _rest in pieces. _Narcissa had been determined to believe that it was a symptom of his fevered mind; cabin fever from being in St. Mungo's so long.

The service ends, and the three people part, each going their separate ways, without Draco to tie them together. They do not find peace or comfort in each other anymore.

In the Afterlife, Draco returns to the Room of Hidden Things, where he belongs, and waits for someone to find him.


End file.
